The truth is that we shall only understand the balance of severity and confidence, of the strenuous and the relaxed, in the context of the common life. Every believer must have an urgent concern for the relation of the neighbour to Christ, a desire and willingness to be the means by which Christ’s relation with […]
Blog: Pictures-Books-Reflections
The Look
Posted on by James Woodward
the look “The World is not something to look at, it is something to be in.” Mark Rudman I look and look. Looking’s a way of being: one becomes, sometimes, a pair of eyes walking. Walking wherever looking takes one. The eyes dig and burrow into the world. They touch fanfare, howl, madrigal, clamor. […]
What is Age?
Posted on by James Woodward
“Age puzzles me. I thought it was a quiet time. My seventies were interesting and fairly serene, but my eighties are passionate. I grow more intense as I age… We who are old know that age is more than a disability. It is an intense and varied experience, almost beyond our capacity at […]
A prayer of Lancelot Andrewes
Posted on by James Woodward
A prayer of Lancelot Andrewes Guard Thou my soul, Strengthen my body, elevate my senses, direct my course, order my habits, shape my character, bless my actions, fulfil my prayers, inspire holy thoughts, pardon the past, correct the present, prevent the future …… AMEN
The Windows
Posted on by James Woodward
The Windows Lord, how can man preach thy eternall word? He is a brittle crazie glasse: Yet in thy temple thou dost him afford This glorious and transcendent place, To be a window, through thy grace. But when thou dost anneal in glasse thy storie, Making thy life to […]
Seeing beyond the immediate: listening and learning alongside older people
Posted on by James Woodward
From 1998 through to 2009, I had the privilege of working with many hundreds of older people in an Almshouse charity. We lived together in rather splendid seventeenth-century buildings which were surprisingly adaptable for modern use. I remember meeting one frail older woman on her admission for care into our community. This move was for […]
understanding people ?
Posted on by James Woodward
Affinity Consider this man in the field beneath, Gaitered with mud, lost in his own breath, Without joy, without sorrow,… Without children, without wife, Stumbling insensitively from furrow to furrow, A vague somnambulist; but hold your tears, For his name also is written in the Book of Life. Ransack your brainbox, pull out the drawers […]
Glass
Posted on by James Woodward
glass It is like the light coming through blue stained glass, Yet not quite like it, For the blueness is not transparent, Only translucent. Her soul’s light shines through, But her soul cannot be seen. It is something elusive, whimsical, tender, wanton, childlike, wise And noble. Joyce Kilmer
Sarum College Bookshop : Book of the Month
Posted on by James Woodward
‘Between Dark and Daylight’ by Joan Chittister I am busy at the moment embarking upon a major exercise of downsizing in preparation for my move to Sarum. This must include books! The process is illuminating. What do we attach ourselves to? All this ‘stuff’ faces me with the paradoxes and contradictions of living and […]
Praying for Peace
Posted on by James Woodward
and listening to the voices …… Erich Fried When we were the persecuted I was one of you How can I remain one when you become the persecutors? Your longing was to become like other nations who murdered you Now you have become like them You have outlived those who were […]
Trinity
Posted on by James Woodward
St Augustine wrote of God in his ‘Confessions’: “You, my God, are supreme… You are the most hidden from us and yet the most present amongst us, the most beautiful and yet the most strong, ever enduring and yet we cannot comprehend you. You are unchangeable and yet you change all things. You are never […]
Miro on Ageing
Posted on by James Woodward
PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS AN OLD MAN When artist Joan Miro was 24 years old, he predicted that he would do his best work in old age. The exhibition, “Joan Miro: Instinct and Imagination,” documents the work he did in his 70’s and 80’s. In keeping with the idea of positive aging, Miro described […]
empty hands
Posted on by James Woodward
they go there with empty hands What do they do, The singers, tale writers, dancers, painters, Shapers, makers? They go there with empty hands, into The gap between. They come back with things in their hands. They go silent and come back with words, with tunes. They go into confusion and come back with […]
Compassion ?
Posted on by James Woodward
compassion A friend told me of visiting the Dalai Lama in India and asking him for a succinct definition of compassion. She prefaced her question by describing how heart-stricken she’d felt when, earlier that day, she’d seen a man in the street beating a mangy stray dog with a stick. “Compassion,” the Dalai […]
Tulip
Posted on by James Woodward
tulip Perhaps the tulip knows about impermanence and that is why, on a green stem it carries a wine cup in the wilderness Hafiz, (re)transl. Tom Davis
Learning from Self !
Posted on by James Woodward
There is a famous story that Gandhi told of himself and the girl who was addicted to eating sweet foods. The story goes that a troubled mother one day came to Gandhi along with her daughter and explained to Gandhi that her daughter was in the habit of eating far more sweet food than was […]
Where do we look for God?
Posted on by James Woodward
And so it is with the glory of God expressed in human creation. It is not only in the ardent lover, the faithful friend, the wise counsellor, the trusting child that we see God’s glory. There is glory also in the anger of the oppressed, the pain of the wounded and the loneliness of the […]
Discovery
Posted on by James Woodward
Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself, and know that everything in life has purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are blessings given to us to learn from. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
From Windsor to Sarum
Posted on by James Woodward
By way of completing the circle of communication I can see that social media has its advantages by way of sharing information! So after six years here in Windsor I am looking forward to the challenges and opportunities of a new phase of my work and life. Here is the Press Release – so the […]
In the End – our choice for Love ?
Posted on by James Woodward
You see, only love can move across boundaries and across cultures. Love is a very real energy a spiritual life force that is much more powerful than ideas or mere thoughts. Love is endlessly alive, always flowing toward the lower place, and thus life-giving for all, like a great river and water itself. When you […]